As the start of the Women’s National Basketball Association season approaches, the Players’ Union remains locked in intense negotiations with the league to finalize a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and avoid potential delays to the upcoming season.
Players Union President Nneka Ogwumike said revenue sharing and team-funded housing remain two of the biggest unresolved issues in negotiations, NBC Sports reports. The two sides are scheduled to meet for a fifth straight day on March 21 in hopes of finalizing a new CBA, with discussions expected to focus on those key points after the past two days centered on more minor issues.
“It’s very important for us to nail those two things down, which is, I think, the biggest thing on the agenda today,” Ogwumike said in between bargaining sessions. “So we want to make sure that we can get that.”Revenue sharing is expected to be the biggest sticking point in negotiations. The league has proposed sharing net revenue—earnings after expenses—while the players’ union has pushed for a percentage of gross revenue —earnings before expenses.
When talks began more than a year ago, the union sought 40% of gross revenue but lowered its proposal to 26% ahead of the marathon in-person bargaining session on March 10. The league, meanwhile, has offered players more than 70% of net revenue. Still, Ogwumike has stressed the urgency of reaching an agreement on both revenue sharing and player housing, as teams have covered player housing since the league’s inception. Still, the league has proposed changes to that arrangement in the new CBA.
“We’ve talked a lot about revenue share, which that’s obviously going to be, I don’t even really like calling it the elephant in the room. Like it’s there, you know, like we’re going to talk about it,” Ogwumike said. “But housing is big, you know, and housing is really
big. And I think that perhaps people understanding this negotiation or like learning about it has really shown like how meaningful something like a housing benefit is, especially for the women in the W.”If revenue-sharing and housing issues are resolved, the Women’s National Basketball Association season is expected to begin on time, May 8. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said a deal needed to be reached by March 16 to avoid disruptions. She also stressed how the delay could impact the expansion draft for Portland and Toronto, as well as free agency for 80% of the league.
“We have to get it done without
disrupting some part of the fact that we’ve got to run this two-team expansion (draft),” Engelbert said. “We have to get expansion going. We got to get free agency going. We gotta get the college draft.”The first preseason games are set for April 25, featuring Caitlin Clark and Indiana against New York, and Seattle facing Golden State.
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